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Saturday, 22 November 2014

Sometimes when it's cold and grey and rainy...you need baked goods! whether it is the weekend or not yet! but come on...Friday's count as the weekend right?

and sometimes only cookies will do!

but when you turn to your Pinterest list of cookie goodness, you discover that most of these recipes call for chilling your dough, for an hour...sometimes three...or sometimes OVERNIGHT!

Now, I know...chilling your dough has its merits and stops your cookies from spreading and makes them look more attractive but when that cookie craving creeps in who can stand to wait overnight to fulfil it?

In a large bowl, combine the sieved flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the oil, peanut butter, both sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix on medium-high speed until thoroughly combined. Add the flour mix in 3 parts, mixing on low speed until the flour is incorporated.

Chop the chocolate into chunks, and stir in with a spatula. Add the Reese's Pieces and stir again. Reserve back a handful of both to decorate the top.

Spread the cookie dough into the brownie pan, ensuring the surface is flat and level. Sprinkle the handful of chocolate chunks and Reeese's Pieces across the top of the dough.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes, until the top looks golden brown, and the middle is still slightly gooey.

Remove from oven, and leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove parchment from pan and cut the cookie vertically into cookie strips with a large sharp knife. Be careful because the cookie will still be quite soft and gooey, and you don't want any of the sticks to break in half. Cool completely on wire rack.

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

So I know I promised you a Nutella break for a while...but I just can't keep away from the stuff!

Also, I'm having a hard time shifting my baby weight - because did you know that baby weight doesn't fall off itself, and it also doesn't fall off when you eat brownies and cupcakes and huge slabs of dairy milk and toblerone nightly!

So my husband suggested we abstain from any chocolate or baked goods during the week, and that we can 'treat' ourselves on the weekend! Do you know that I can't recall the last time I even went for one single day without a chocolate fix??? So this was a really big deal! At the end of our first week, I felt like I had just run a 20k marathon - does that even exist? See I'm so busy eating the whole pan of brownies I don't even know what distance marathons are run in, but anyway it felt like a massive massive achievement!

So to reward myself for being so good for a whole 5 DAYS I made this beast of a pie! because I may or may not have been dreaming it up the whole week long!

...and what a way to break a diet! Nutella? check, Chocolate? check

Oreo crust? check

Ferrero Rocher's? check

Double cream? check

Oh and don't forget the Nutella drizzle!

You can't finish off a beast of a cream pie like this without copious amounts of warm drizzled Nutella!

It is super rich and pretty sweet because of the addition of the Nutella to the chocolate fudge filling - both of which are absolutely fine by me but if you're not into super sweet fillings (then why are you following my blog?!) then perhaps you'd want to increase your dark chocolate to Nutella ratio. I do think the cream balances it all out nicely though and it would certainly make a great dessert at any dinner party, for a Nutella lover, or just to sit in front of the T.V with on a rainy weekday night ;)

Crush the Oreos in a blender. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Mix the butter in with the Oreo crumbs until the mixture is sticky and when you roll it in a ball it holds its shape. Spread the biscuit layer into the bottom of the pie dish, pressing down with the back of a teaspoon. I used my hands to press the remaining crumbs into the sides of the dish to ensure the crust was evenly distributed. Refrigerate for 20 minutes whilst making the fudge filling.In a medium saucepan, add the condensed milk, chopped dark chocolate, Nutella, salt and vanilla. Stir over a medium-low heat until melted. Get your Oreo crust out of the fridge and spread the fudge layer on top, save back a small amount - about half a cup.Now the fun part: chop 9 Ferrero Rocher's in half. Press them into the fudge layer - filling side down. Spread the remaining fudge on top so most of the Ferrero's are hidden.Whip double cream in the bowl of an electric mixer on high for 3-4 minutes until peaks start to form. Meanwhile melt 2 heaped tablespoons of Nutella in a small microwaveable bowl for 30-60 seconds. Spread your whipped cream on top of the fudge filling. Smooth it out. Dip a knife into the bowl of melted Nutella and flick it across the top of the cream, repeat several times. Chop up 3 Ferrero Rocher's and throw them on top of the cream. To make the Nutella frosting, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar until creamy and then stir in the Nutella. Put the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star attachment. Pipe 8 swirls evenly around the edge of the pie. Cut four Ferrero Rocher's in half. Alternate each half between filling down and filling up and press them into the frosting.Eat and enjoy!